Depends what you're using it for, and what you're recording with. Anything 'cheap' is probably rubbish and will give rubbish results. I use a Sony ECM-MS907 with the MD. I also use this with the Uher. I also use an Audio Technica Pro-4L in the studio. I've got an Eagle Pro throat mic, but this isn't very good quality. Just about OK for speech - I used it to record some interviews. Any good quality dynamic mic is likely to be OK for recording the organ, but look around carefully. There are some decent ones on Ebay, but beware those cheapies often described as 'Pro'.

The organ is very difficult to record properly because of the vast dynamic range. A friend who is a BBC radio producer and did some work last year with us on the community radio station gave me some tips, but was very wary of doing the actual broadcast recording.

Eagles, whp has begun posting on the forum is, I think, a recording engineer, and will be able to give much better adviced than me!

its a shame you didnt ask me in september! im doing music technology A level which includes recording, editing, mixing and creating not only modern dance music but alot to do with editing cds and classical music. should be very interesting! but your best bet is to go to a music shop that sells electronic equipment too. there is a specialist in bournemouth but a bit of a treck for you! BWS Tom

odd church isnt it! blody hideous but interesting! nice organ. an old chichester boy who is a friend of my brothers at lancing said that the cathedral organ is out of action. the organ scholar at lancing (soon to be Gloucester and Kings Cambridge) was let loose on it when lancing did their monthly evensong and i broke after that! pistons just packed up. i dont know that it is working yet so dont be surprised if its unaccomp or with piano! glad your having fun! beats doing GCSEs i can tell you! anyway, off to oxford on sat to go to a student party with a friend at exeter college. 2 eng exams and one RS till half term then they kick off again after that for 2 weeks, interupting my cricket season! anyway, enjoy! Tom

Yes, St. Bartholomew is quite the
item
. I did enjoy playing the organ, however. Would like to have spent more time, but alas didn't want to overstay the welcome.

I also visited nearby St. Peter's. Unlike the previous church (which was built for the poor to attend and constructed of railway brick), this one is the usual gothic revival and intended for Brighton's wealthy Anglicans. They do Evensong every Sunday with a mixed choir of boys, girls and men.

Interesting to look at their monthly program for Evensong. You may groan, though they do the best: Darke in F, Dyson in D, Harwood in Ab, Stanford in C, Brewer in D. Perhaps Bairstow in D next month? Howells was absent, tho maybe in the "pipes" so to speak.

St. Michael's, the other major church in Brighton was closed (
damn!
) to visitors. And get this: it is only open to the public on Saturday! They will do a high mass this Friday at 11:00 so I will be there. (And perhaps they will let me take pictures after?)

This church closing stuff is rather annoying. In a sense I can understand: there needs to be an attendant (unpaid of course), otherwise there is the fear of vandalism and theft. But to me this just capitulates to the forces of evil. Alas, church insurance -which I know nothing about- may be very punitive for churches without attendants.

Four years ago I did a tour of the Lincolnshire churches and it was positively pathetic how many of them were closed.

hi Jason! going out again tonight? i think i know the church you mean, a stones throw away from Bartholomews. very attractive building wit lots of builders etc doing stuff outside? wanted to have a gander with my brother inbetween rehersals but it was closed. instead looked around a rather dodgey area of brighton, full of goth shops and chavs etc.... kinda wierd! glad to hear your enjoying yourself! im jelous of your exploits!! stuck here for another 3 weeks then im free for 12 weeks, getting a car and going to lancing to join my bro! gona be wicked! next time your in brighton after september you must come and have a visit to the chapel and im sure you would be allowed to play the organ!
did you hear evensong from liverpool met? i loved the organ voluntary! i think i might learn it, messiaen - priere somthing somthing somthing du christ. from his l'ascencion. was great but i imagine quite hard but sounds rather difficult! you still in your wifi cafe with the expensive beer? cheers! Tom

Jason invited me in, so with trepidation I'm peering around the door, wondering if there's room on the end of that pew over there for an ancient antipodean without the sort of background that most of you chaps have?

Anyway, greetings from Adelaide, named after King William (IV I think) wife, capital of South Australia, and once known as "The City of Churches"._________________
Have you noticed editing is always needed for the inevitable typos that weren't there when you hit the "
post
" button?

did you hear evensong from liverpool met? i loved the organ voluntary! i think i might learn it, messiaen - priere somthing somthing somthing du christ. from his l'ascencion. was great but i imagine quite hard but sounds rather difficult!

Hi Tom
The piece is "Prière du Christ montant vers son Père" which is the fourth of the symphonic meditations which comprise Messaen's "L'Ascension". It is inspired by verses from St.John's gospel "
I have manifested Thy name unto men.......And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee"

Let us know how you get on, should you try to learn it!
Actually, I prefer the third meditation "Transports de joie" which is really an exciting toccata-like piece. Do you know it?
Cheers

A quick note before I leave to play for a funeral at Curry 'Cathedral'.

Rob, Minidiscs are becoming harder to find since the advent of the MP3 player (why three MP's - one is one too many - especially if they're Bliarist!). Your best bet is probably Ebay or maybe a free ads paper like Trade -It. That's based in Bristol but covers South Wales too. W H Smith's still sell the blank discs as do some other retailers. Curry's et al have stopped stocking them, and the response from most of the thick young assistants is as though one had asked for wax discs!

Actually, I prefer the third meditation "Transports de joie" which is really an exciting toccata-like piece. Do you know it?

That is a very exciting piece of music. I heard it live in Norwich Cathedral most recently. With all due respect, I don't care much for the 1st of the "Meditations". It is Messaien in his most mystic noodling mode. Boring and self indulgent. IMHO of course!

I've been busy musically with a wedding yesterday afternoon in Curry 'Cathedral'. No choir, and just three hymns. The heating was off and the building very cold, so the tuning of the organ was awful! I played the Bach 'Wachet auf' and the great was considerably flatter than the swell! And in the Widor with everything coupled up it sounded like a hurdy-gurdy!

Afterwards, I was at a church nearer home to rehearse the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria with a soloist for a funeral there on Tuesday. Went well, she had a good voice, but the organ is a horrible early Johannus electronic. Impossible to get any clarity in the bass. Wretched thing sounded buzzy - as if it were six feet underwater! (And I hadn't drawn the Unda Maris!)

Mass this morning at the cathedral. Only one soprano turned up in the choir, so we did a duet, with me singing the cantor's part as loud as possible from the console. Cong. said that they could hear me! Impossible to here what was going on during much of the service as the PA was playing up. Played the Wachet Auf again- the heating was on today, so the organ was better in tune!

No more services today (unless the 'phone rings) so can relax and take the dog out. Hope you all had a good weekend.